Bill Belichick Comments on Sam Darnold's Time With New York Jets

Bill Belichick recently commented on the New York Jets' relationship with Sam Darnold.

After 24 seasons as the New England Patriots' head coach, Bill Belichick is trying his hand as a TV analyst. / Bob Breidenbach / USA TODAY NETWORK

While the New York Jets are off to a strong start this season, their former quarterback Sam Darnold is looking like an early MVP candidate for the Minnesota Vikings this year. 

This campaign, the Jets are finally off to a good start despite a challenging early schedule. The 2-1 record has many pleased and believing that this New York team could finally accomplish something meaningful. 

A big part of the turnaround has been the play of Aaron Rodgers. The veteran quarterback is looking better each week for the Jets, as their offense played some of the best football that the franchise has seen in years in Week 3. 

While Rodgers is off to a nice start this year with the Jets, their former first-round pick, Sam Darnold is currently lighting it up for the Vikings. Darnold was the third overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft and played three seasons for New York. 

Due to the team struggling and Darnold struggling, the franchise moved on fairly quickly from him. After going to the Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers, the former first round pick has seemingly found his home in Minnesota. 

While it has only been three games, the young quarterback looks like the player that the Jets were hoping he would be. Recently, Bill Belichick spoke on the Pat McAfee Show about the Jets being the only team that he heard that didn’t like Darnold. 

“I’ll say this: Everybody has liked Darnold except the Jets,” Belichick said to laughter from McAfee and cohost AJ Hawk through text via Erich Richter of the New York Post. “The people in Carolina that I talked to, they really liked him. … I know Kevin [O’Connell] and some of the coaches in Minnesota they really like this guy too, so it seemed like the only people that didn’t like Darnold was the Jets.”

Darnold’s time in New York wasn’t great overall, as he had a losing record and totaled 45 touchdown passes and 39 interceptions in three seasons. However, those New York teams really lacked talent around the young quarterback, and it wasn’t too surprising that he failed with the Jets. 

With the Vikings, Darnold has arguably the best wide receiver in the league in Justin Jefferson, as he is proving that he can be a very good NFL quarterback with proper players around him. 

For New York, it isn’t shocking to see their former top pick have success elsewhere, as they really never set him up for success coming out of college.